1/4 And that’s a wrap. I have footage and screenshots I would love to share but I don’t have the heart at the moment. I enjoyed my final few hours of playtime and I enjoyed the experience.

Mana Sprout and I got to go to the new Mario movie today and I can confirm it is great. Like the first movie, it goes a mile-a-minute and feels like watching a video game. Some incredible callbacks to games both of us have loved playing. Let’s-a go!

My celebratory drink:

Happy MAR10 Day! Hard to believe we’re celebrating 40 years of Super Mario Bros. The original was my first video game and it stuck with me. Now I enjoy sharing the games with Mana Sprout and we can’t wait to see the new movie. What was your first Mario game and what are some of your memories?

Despite being quite a full few weeks, I managed to play a bit of Tour before settling in for bed each night and even got through all the courses a little early with some skip tickets. Quite relaxing. I had a lot of good karts and characters for this one.

Happy release day of the game that launched my favorite video game franchise: The Legend of Zelda!

The Legend of Zelda turns 40 this weekend! 🎊 To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to post my entire strategy guide, along with production shots and some additional thoughts. So, whether you've seen this guide a million times or not, I hope you learn something new. MEGA 🧵

1/5 For those of you who are interested, you most certainly can play Virtual Boy games on the Switch without the intended VR accessories. I played for a while in handheld mode.

I’ve been making small repairs and setups on guitars lately. This is the third guitar I’ve used the “toothpick trick” on. Basically, to fill a small hole so you can drill a fresh pilot hole and screw in a stable screw, fill the hole with wood glue and tooth picks. 👌 🎸

Sad to say I put Mario Kart Tour on the back burner for a few of busy weeks (and tours). However, I was planning ahead and looking forward to tonight when I could get back in the race. I did not race well, but I had fun!

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another fight. Alas, it was a beautiful day today and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Don’t put the cozy blankets away just yet and prepare the hot chocolate.

Okay, a milestone in Dragon’s Crown today: I managed to complete the last of the quests! Now to complete the story with the other characters, I think.

Attachment to #Nintendo franchises: 💚💚💚💚💚 Zelda 💚💚💚💚💚 Mario Kart 💚💚💚💚💚 Metroid 💚💚💚💚💚 Star Fox 💚💚💚💚💚 Mario 💚💚💚💚💚 Donkey Kong 💚💚💚💚🔴 Animal Crossing 💚💚💚💚🔴 Kirby 💚💚💚💚🔴 Pilotwings 💚💚💚🔴🔴 Splatoon 💚💚💚🔴🔴 Kid Icarus 💚💚🔴🔴🔴 Smash Bros. 💚💚🔴🔴🔴 Mario (RPGs) 💚🔴🔴🔴🔴 Mario Party 💚🔴🔴🔴🔴 Pokémon 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 Fire Emblem

And this is a taste of what makes Dragon’s Crown so enjoyable. This quest and its surrounding story and artwork is fantastic. The moment you encounter the boss is brilliant.

Cruising through more Dragon’s Crown quests today. These four were completed in a single run! Sadly, I couldn’t get all five done at once.

I visited the doctor today.... But, while resting, I did dust off some space on my PlayStation Trophy shelf for some new Dragon’s Crown achievements. PS3, aw, yeah!

As we move into the weekend, I’m going to do the cliche thing and share a meal photo. This was lunch. There’s a place in town that has an amazing avocado toast bruschetta so I was inspired to make my own at home. How’d I do?

I’ve been very tired today after a busy week. I very much needed some relaxing video gaming. Here are my 80th Nintendo World Championships NES Edition entries. Wow! Haven’t missed one yet.

Today I want to share some sneaky stills of my printed roleplaying boards, character figures, maps and tokens. The artwork is not my own (except for the hand drawn maps), but I used rubber cement, corner cutters, foam board, cardstock, magnets and more to make these.

(1/5) You thought I was done?! Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings was tonight’s viewing (at home). This was the first film adaptation I had seen and there are some nostalgia goggles I wear. The movie does stand on its own despite our not getting a part two.

Today I continue the Tolkien journey by sharing what came in the mail. The Ralph Bakshi version of the first half of The Lord of the Rings (the first three books or one and a half volumes or halfway through The Two Towers) was rereleased this past June. I’ve never seen it in widescreen.

(1/4) Tonight marked the third night of my movie marathon in the theater. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition. Each night I arrived for a 6:45 p.m. showing and tonight I left the theater at 11:15.

Tonight was The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition. There were liberties taken with the story and pacing, but several pay off in surprising and meaningful ways.

I got to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition with introduction by Peter Jackson tonight. It is the same theater in which I watched the original theatrical release 25 years ago. I am forever indebted to J.R.R. Tolkien and blown away at how the film holds up.

Now, I can’t wait to share this one with you! The Slow Mo Guys take a look at the Virtual Boy. The tech involved in this machine has always fascinated me and now I understand it so much more! Mesmerizing! youtu.be/jW7M8H99x7Y

Nintendo Virtual Boy at 1 Million Frames per second - The Slow Mo Guys

YouTube video by The Slow Mo Guys

youtu.be

Hey! Did you know The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions are in theaters starting tomorrow through the 29th? Anyone want to go with me? Also, apparently the HD remaster of Ralph Bakshi’s version was rereleased in June, so I picked that up for a post-Jackson watch. Good timing.

A few nights ago, the family and I sat down with this enormous bowl of popcorn to watch Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Such a gorgeous movie. Watching it, I realized something: I miss movies that take their time and let you soak in the atmosphere. The similarities to the Mana series struck me as well.

The Switch has been closely connected to my streaming. Around its release I picked up a capture card so I could share the console video games I loved and looked forward to. It’s how I worked through and beat Breath of the Wild. It’s where I poured hours into New Horizons.

It may not be Christmas anymore, but 'tis the season ... of getting sick. Our poor littlest is gonna have to sit the next several days out with Mommy and Daddy while Sissy goes to school. So much crud floating around! Hope I don't catch something! Eek!